The Courier & Advertiser (Fife Edition)
Swinney ‘failed to act on warnings’
Yammer porn concerns raised to education secretary in April
Education Secretary John Swinney was warned of pornographic content circulating on a school social networking tool six weeks before an investigation led to access being locked down.
Emails reveal how Mr Swinney was told in April that more than 100 users had been exposed to the material on Yammer, and moderators had no way of knowing who had been affected.
The education secretary was personally warned of safeguarding limitations on the service but failed to take action to limit access given to young children.
Education Scotland only prevented pupils from accessing the service after being approached by The Courier weeks later, despite receiving earlier warnings from parents, teachers and staff.
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray accused Mr Swinney of failing to act sooner “in a bid to save face”.
An Education Scotland spokesperson said: “We had been in the process of considering our options when we were approached by The Courier and had planned a review for late summer, which was subsequently moved forward.”
Education Secretary John Swinney was warned of explicit material circulating on a school social networking tool six weeks before a Courier investigation led to access being locked down.
Emails obtained under a freedom of information request reveal the deputy first minister was told in April that more than 100 users had been exposed to the explicit content on Yammer, and moderators had no way of knowing who had been affected.
No action was taken to limit access given to young children until The Courier revealed the problems in June.
Mr Swinney was told by Gayle Gorman, chief inspector and chief executive of Education Scotland, that the offending image had been viewed and clicked on by six teachers, four of whom did not raise the alarm with the Scottish Government.
The child whose profile had been used to share the image denied uploading it.
Education bosses said they were investigating if another individual may have been given access to the account.
The correspondence reveals a media response was drafted in May but no action was taken by officials then.
It also details education chiefs’ crisis talks on June 11 after The Courier revealed how inappropriate content had again been found on Yammer.
Both Perth and North Perthshire MSP Mr Swinney and Nicola Sturgeon were told on June 7 that a parent from Fife had been in contact with the first minister via Twitter with evidence of further inappropriate content but that access was still not suspended.
They were told “given we have over 60,000 regular users of Yammer... this would cause major disruption for the overwhelming majority of users”.
Access to the social networking tool was finally shut down after The Courier contacted Education Scotland for comment. It has not been re-established.
After the network was taken down, Mr Swinney blocked its restoration until he could be satisfied the vulnerability had been addressed.
Scottish Labour education spokesman Iain Gray said John Swinney must “explain why he knew for six weeks that this harmful material was likely being circulated to children but did not intervene until parents’ concerns were about to be reported in the media”.
Scottish Conservative education spokeswoman Liz Smith said: “It is absolutely right that schools should embrace technology, but we now know that John Swinney was presented with overwhelming evidence that this was not the way to do it.”
An Education Scotland spokesperson said: “We had been in the process of considering our options when we were approached by The Courier and had planned a review for late summer, which was subsequently moved forward.”
A Scottish Government spokesperson said: “Following the incident in April, Education Scotland took appropriate steps, in line with their existing moderation procedures, to remove the image and investigate with the relevant school and local authority. They immediately implemented a review to identify what further actions could be taken to reduce the risk of this happening again.
“However, when the Deputy First Minister was alerted to concerns from a parent in June, it became clear that suspension of the Yammer network was required until these issues could be properly resolved.”